BIOTROP hosted the session on bryophytes and lichens, one of the 19 parallel session subjects, during the 9th International Flora Malesiana Symposium which was held on 27-31 August 2013 at the IPB International Convention Center in Bogor, Indonesia.

The session featured 9 accepted papers from Indonesia, Philippines, and Singapore and was attended by 40 out of the 450 participants from 28 countries that attended the Symposium. One of the papers highlighted the contributions of BIOTROP’s six regional training courses on bryophytes and lichens in Southeast Asia since 2001 which was presented by Prof. Benito Tan from the Department of Biological Sciences of the National University of Singapore. Prof. Tan has served as resource person in the said training course. The undergraduate research work of Mr. Mr. Saiful Bachri, BIOTROP Herbarium staff, on “Bryophyte diversity of Mount Merbabu, Central Java, Indonesia”, was also presented during the session.  Dr. Sri S. Tjitrosoedirdjo, BIOTROP’s weed and invasive alien plant species specialist, moderated the session.

On the other hand, the symposium is considered an important and comprehensive forum for botanists all over the world on the Malesian flora. It is conducted every three years. The Research Center for Biology of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) served as the host institution for this year’s symposium.